Golkar "Buries" Dream of Nominating Presidential Candidate

Jakarta (Antara) - Golkar Party politician Nudirman Munir asked the party to bury its dream of nominating its cadre as a presidential candidate in the July 9 poll. "Golkar should nominate its vice presidential candidate. Golkar has six to seven strong candidates for vice president," Nurdiman said here on Friday. The strong candidates included Agung Laksono, Priyo Budi Santoso and Jusuf Kalla, he added. The Golkar Party had never won in the presidential election since the reform movement was launched in 1998, he remarked. Therefore, he added that the Golkar Party must find a duo who may win. He also talked about the performance of the Golkar Party under the leadership of Akbar Tanjung, who had the courage to nominate non-Golkar cadres as presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 2004 election. "Why doesn't it have such courage, for instance, the Golkar Party can nominate Abraham Samad (chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission) as its presidential candidate and Priyo Budi Santoso (Golkar cadre) as its vice presidential candidate. If this is done, the Golkar Party will become more interesting," he said. The Golkar Party is overconfident of its cadres. As a result, they nominate themselves as presidential candidates, he added. (*) Reporting by Budi Setiawanto